Ah, Virginia. My heart still bleeds red, green, and gold, but I am growing to love Virginia. The state bird is the Cardinal (every time I see one, I know my mom is close by), and it has mountains! Yeah, they're not the Alps, but they're pretty high and a beautiful green in the summer.
A trip to Charlottesville and Wintergreen reminded us of why Virginia might be OK to call home - after all, our return address has listed Virginia for (gasp) 10 years. We visited my cousin Becky, her husband John, and their 2 1/2 year old Emmett, along with our friends Lynn, Kyle, and 2 1/2 year old Harry. All born and bred Cheeseheads, morphed into Virginians.
After a great dinner on the downtown mall in Charlottesville, we wandered along toward a darn good cover band. Luke was a trooper - he dug the flashing light necklace Becky got the kids and stayed up until 11:00 playing cars and trains with the older boys (more like watching - it's an art form cultivated over hours and hours of committed practice).
Next day... a visit to the Farmer's Market to purchase all of our dinner necessities... then on to Wintergreen. Our neighbors have a beautiful home high up in the mountains and generously invited us to stay while they headed to the Outer Banks. It's spectacular, peaceful, green... highly recommend for local Virginians looking to get away. 3 hours on the dot. 3:00 p.m.: The boyz... dipping into the mini keg. The girls (the brunt of the consumption felt by me and Lynn, as my cousin is due in Oct) into the vino.
Harry!
Harry!
My cousin, Becky, and Emmett.
Daddy and Luke...
Action shot of Harry... such an artistic photographer, hey? Ha.
Happy fam...
Luke "drinking" out of Daddy's beer delivery device.
John giving Emmett a lesson in how beer is made.
All this excitement has me a tad sleepy... or maybe it's the altitude.... or the beer.
4:45 p.m.: Dance party... Lynn and Luke take to the floor.
Kids pass out... adults eat dinner. Lynn modeling the all-farmer's market meal... grass fed beef, zucchini, squash, potatoes, onions, baby tomatoes, basil. Scrumptous.
Happy Birthday, Old Man!!
Next morning... the boys playing cars while groggy adults look on.
Luke had a great night rolling around in our bed - hence the excessive grin.
Daddy, Luke, Kyle, and Harry back from a walk on the trail across the street... loads of critters to check out. Meanwhile, Lynn and I attempted a run - high altitude, sweating out what felt like gallons of red wine, massive hills... good times.
The boyz and their boyz....
Virginia, here's to ya. 
i love this! and can totally relate as i spent this last saturday morning staring cross-eyed at isaac, after a fun time with my own personal bottle of wine while hanging out friends till ridiculous hours the evening before.
ReplyDelete"...remember those days when we could just sleep till...whenever....?"
looks like FUN!
and i think it's like...common law marriage, or something...if you've lived in a state for 7+ years -- you have to call it home. :)